As the evenings get cooler and days shorter here, summer holidays wind down. Everyone seems to be preparing for the start of September, and looking forward to the last real weekend before things start up again. Most everyone I talk with has enjoyed some of the summer outside with family and friends, and I find myself experiencing a twinge of regret. For me, the last few months have been a blur of work indoors in front of the computer, interspersed with a few brief moments of relaxation. This afternoon, I am acknowledging that I have ‘missed’ this summer altogether in my efforts to fulfill as many of my commitments as possible.

I am reminded, once again, that we cannot ‘give our best’ day in and day out unless we also give to ourselves. And sometimes the best we gift we can offer ourselves is a new perspective on time. For the point of view I have held until now (that time is a precious resource that I don’t have enough of), has left me drained and unsatisfied. I wonder what happened to unprogrammed time to relax and smell the roses, to be in the company of good friends and family, to enjoy the simple pleasures of life like sunshine, fresh air, strolling through a park or lazily reading a novel at the beach…

So today, in the midst of all my ‘incomplete’ commitments, I am looking at my relationship to time as a choice. Instead of seeing it as a vacuum to be filled with tasks, I see it as something I can play with. I am not its captive—and neither am I a captive of my commitments. I am time’s playmate, and I choose to dance lightly in the forest watching the sun set in ‘quiet celebration’ of being alive.

I invite all of you to join me in re-committing to smelling the roses if you haven’t lately and to sharing the joy and happiness with others if you have. I always need to remind myself that life is about the journey and not the destination. If I don’t practice this now, I will be either too tired or too much of a workaholic to know how to begin taking care of me when I retire.